French

“You live a new life for every new language you speak.If you know only one language, you live only once.”(Czech proverb)

The French Department in Saint Catherine’s College is a colourful, vibrant area of the school where 5 teachers and a French Assistant fly the flag for European Languages.

Key Stage 3 Euro Quiz Winners on European Languages’ Day 2012.

Our French Exchange:

The French Exchange Programme with Lycée St Paul, Orléans, France, has been running since 1993. Every year, participating students of GCSE & A-Level French host a “correspondant” from Orléans for a week in March. The return trip takes place in October when the Irish students spend 5 days with their pen pals & the last 3 days exploring the sights of the French capital, Paris.

French Exchange Trip to Orléans/Paris October 2013.

Our Virtual Tours:

In May, the French Assistant visits each class in year 8, 9 & 10 to do a presentation/Quiz on her home area/country. So we have had extremely interesting virtual tours of Quebec (from Genevieve), of Toulon (from Yasmina) & of the exotic tropical island of Tahiti, in the Pacific Ocean (from Jennifer).

Our Career Girls:

Our wall displays feature the importance of language-learning & the university destinations of our A-Level French students, many of whom do Law or Accounts with French, interpreting and teaching. However, we currently have one student who is studying Engineering with French in Glasgow.

We have more & more students who successfully combine Science subjects with French at A-Level. We are proud to say that, in October 2011, Mairead Fields was awarded two scholarships by Queen’s University, Belfast to acknowledge her exceptional performance in both disciplines at A-level. Mairead gained four “A” grades in Chemistry, Biology, French & Spanish and is currently studying Biomedical Science at QUB.